The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4171a) Private Frederick Ignatius Dirou, 2nd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Emily Hyles, the story for this day was on (4171a) Private Frederick Ignatius Dirou, 2nd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4171a Private Frederick Ignatius Dirou, 2nd Battalion, AIF
KIA 14 May 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frederick Ignatius Dirou.

Fred Dirou was born in 1895 to Joseph and Bridget Dirou of Young, New South Wales. He was one of ten children born to the couple, although more than one of these children died in infancy. Fred was educated at the Presentation Convent School in Young, and went on to become a grocer. He was described as “one of the best conducted young men in town.”

Fred Dirou enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1915, just over a year after his older brother Joe. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 4th Battalion in December 1915. He was first sent to Egypt, where he was able to see his brother, who had recently returned from serving with the artillery on Gallipoli. At the time the AIF was undergoing a period of reorganisation and expansion, and as part of this process he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion.

From Egypt, Private Fred Dirou was sent to France, and in June 1916 he was sent to the 1st Field Ambulance with an ear infection. To his surprise, he met his brother Joe, who was having his knee fixed after being kicked by a horse. They were able to spend about eight hours together before Fred was sent on to Boulogne to recover. It was the last time Fred would see his brother; Joe would be killed by artillery fire in July 1917.

Fred Dirou spent about a week having treatment on his ears, before being discharged to base details in Boulogne, where he stayed over the bitterly cold winter of 1916 and 1917. He returned to the 2nd Battalion in March 1917, and spent the rest of the year serving first on the Somme, and later around the Belgian town of Ypres.

In February 1918 Dirou’s ear infection returned and he was again sent to hospital. He wrote to his mother that he was doing well, and that he expected to be back with the battalion before the letter reached her.

Dirou returned to the 2nd Battalion in the field before the letter reached his mother. In late April, shortly after Dirou arrived, the 2nd Battalion entered the front line, spending the next few weeks there and in support trenches immediately behind, working on consolidating the position. On 8 May it was relieved, but came under heavy enemy shell-fire. One man was killed, and Private Fred Dirou was wounded.

Private Dirou was removed from the battlefield and taken to the 55th General Hospital in France. The same week, his mother received the letter from her son; she received several more letters. One was from the matron of the hospital Fred was in, who wrote to say, “he was admitted on May 9th, suffering from severe wounds in the right leg, which … were found to be infected with gas gangrene. His leg was immediately amputated to give him his only chance. I … regret to say his condition is most grave and critical … I do hope and pray that I may be allowed to send you better news next week.”

Six days later the matron wrote again, saying, “everything possible was done for your poor boy, the surgeons hardly left the ward, but all day he gradually got weaker, and passed to his final rest at 9.15 am on [14 May 1918] … There is one comfort you will always have, your son’s was the most honourable death; he made the supreme sacrifice for his Mother Country at her greatest hour of need, and as one of this war’s heroes will ever remain sacred.”

Fred made such an impact on the nurses in the hospital that a soldier who arrived at the time of his death wrote to Dirou’s mother. He wrote, “at the beginning of the war I had a brother killed and it troubled my poor mother because we could not find out for a long time how our dear boy had passed his last days, and I thought you would like to know how your son had died and of his last moments … I seem to know your boy quite well, though I’m sorry to say I never saw him, it was the nurses that used to speak to me of him, they all thought a lot of him, he was so good and cheerful, even to the last he bore his trouble with a smiling face … [I am] a brother of your dear son, for we are all brothers in this terrible war. We are here for one great purpose of serving our beloved country for which your dear boy has just given his life.”

Today Private Fred Dirou is buried in the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery under the words “have mercy upon him Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.” He was 23 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Frederick Ignatius Dirou, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section